electron: Undo/Redo/Cut/Copy/Paste & more Not work using Menubar in Windows

Preflight Checklist

I have read the Contributing Guidelines for this project.
I agree to follow the Code of Conduct that this project adheres to.
I have searched the issue tracker for an issue that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Issue Details

Electron Version:
- 5.0.3
Operating System:
- Windows 10 (1809)
Last Known Working Electron version:
- 4.2.4

Expected Behavior

Selecting Undo/Redo/Cut/Copy/Paste/ZoomIn/ZoomOut/ResetZoom from menu bar with mouse performs those various functions.

Actual Behavior

Selecting these options from the menubar using the mouse seems to have no effect. Using keyboard shortcuts does work ok.

Both mouse & keyboard works ok for all functions in MacOS 10.14.5.

To Reproduce

https://github.com/electron/fiddle/releases/tag/v0.8.1 Download and run, then try Edit and View menus. This uses 5.0.1

I have same problem in my own app using 5.0.3. Problem eliminated by downgrading to 4.2.4.

Additional Information

My app uses standard MenuItem roles:

        { role: 'resetzoom' },
        { role: 'zoomin' },
        { role: 'zoomout' },

Electron Fiddle does the same: https://github.com/electron/fiddle/blob/88ce4a76e97c4c93821306b59b3de9a147378058/src/main/menu.ts

     item.submenu.push({ type: 'separator' }, { role: 'resetzoom' }, { role: 'zoomin' }, { role: 'zoomout' }); // Add zooming actions

About this issue

Original URL
State: closed
Created 5 years ago
Reactions: 1
Comments: 16 (10 by maintainers)

Most upvoted comments

I can confirm that the following roles do not work on Windows with Electron v5.0.8 and v6.0.0:

undo
redo
cut
copy
paste
pasteAndMatchStyle
selectAll
delete
resetZoom
zoomIn
zoomOut

Here’s a fiddle gist: https://gist.github.com/javan/69c1075d389acd5a3437c6459e4c6a6d

The underlying issue may be the window losing focus (as noted in https://github.com/electron/electron/issues/18518), which appears to happen when you interact with the menu.

Note how the window blurs when clicking the menu 👎

windows-menu

This doesn't happen with earlier (<= v4.2.8) Electron versions, the window remains focused 👍

windows-menu-v4

It also doesn't happen on macOS with any Electron version, the window remains focused 👍

macos-menu

javan on Aug 1, 2019

This should now be resolved by https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/20019.

codebytere on Sep 4, 2019

According to @nornagon, seems like this bug was reintroduced as a side effect for another fix: https://github.com/electron/electron/pull/19710#issuecomment-525945274

cc @javan

erickzhao on Aug 28, 2019

I’m working around this issue on Windows by implementing the problematic menu roles manually. Here’s a simplified version (available as a fiddle gist too):

const isWindows = process.platform == "win32"

const template = [
  {
    label: "Edit",
    submenu: isWindows ? [
      { label: "Undo",  click: focusAndPerform("undo"),  accelerator: "Ctrl+Z"       },
      { label: "Redo",  click: focusAndPerform("redo"),  accelerator: "Ctrl+Shift+Z" },
      { label: "Cut",   click: focusAndPerform("cut"),   accelerator: "Ctrl+X"       },
      { label: "Copy",  click: focusAndPerform("copy"),  accelerator: "Ctrl+C"       },
      { label: "Paste", click: focusAndPerform("paste"), accelerator: "Ctrl+V"       },
    ] : [
      { role: "undo"  },
      { role: "redo"  },
      { role: "cut"   },
      { role: "copy"  },
      { role: "paste" },
    ]
  }
]

function focusAndPerform(methodName) {
  return function(menuItem, window) {
    window.webContents.focus()
    window.webContents[methodName]()
  }
}

javan on Aug 27, 2019

@sofianguy, ⇡ ⇡ ⇡ this wasn’t actually Fixed in 5.0.10 or 6.0.3 and should be reopened (see my last comment above)

javan on Aug 20, 2019

This is still an issue on Windows with Electron v5.0.10 and v6.0.3 which both include #19657 (the fix). Reproducible with the same fiddle I shared above.

v5.0.10

windows-menu-roles

v6.0.3

windows-menu-roles

javan on Aug 20, 2019

Just to confirm: When I open any menu on Linux (with Electron 6) and hit ESC to close it, focus does not return to the input field. So this is a general issue for menus, not just Undo/Redo etc.

bpasero on Aug 7, 2019